Lower Level Courses Gain Reading Period

The Faculty at its meeting yesterday passed the proposal to admit freshmen to the joys of Reading Period--but not without debate. It also approved the appointment of Edward S. Mason, recently named Lamont University Professor as acting Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the months of October and November.

Jerome S. Bruner, professor of Psychology, presented the motion to extend the privilege of observing Reading Period "to all courses of instruction at the pleasure of the department or committee concerned."

Bruner pointed out that the College, with such innovations as freshman seminars, has been designing a first year which recognizes the Yardlings' ability to make use of their own time.

The Faculty's 1927 ruling, which established the Reading Period for upperclass courses only, may have implied that freshmen were not mature enough, but this is no longer true, and probably never was, he said. And, he noted, a Reading Period would aid in attracting the Faculty's best and busiest men to teach freshman courses.

Speaking for the Committee on General Education, John H. Finley, Jr. '25, Eliot Professor of Greek Literature, then said that many courses, particularly Gen Ed, would have a great amount of material to revise and condense.

He added last night, however, that the Committee on General Education was "willing to have" the change, since it offers only an option and is "purely experimental."

In the meeting, Rouben A. Brower, professor of English, responded to Finley's remarks by praising the proposal for giving freshmen an opportunity for sell-discipline.

The Committee on Educational Policy, which proposed the change, will study the entire question of Reading Period in the future. This is partly on the urging of such skeptics as Jack M. Stein, professor of German, who voted for the proposal because "the freshmen should get in on the Reading Period, if there is one," but said that a great attraction of the idea is that "a lot of professors like to teach 12 weeks instead of 15."

Mason will take over as Dean of the Faculty when President Pusey visits universities in India and Japan next fall. Pusey will resume the post when he returns.